The first highlights video of the season is here, with all seven tries from the weekend’s season opener between Redruth Rugby and Shelford. Featuring a slightly different format for 2011-2012, with preceding team news and post-match interviews with Craig Bonds and Nick Simmons. Plus a bit of previously unreleased footage at the end from the Redruth v Cornish All-Blacks match two years ago as a taster for the next home game against our good friends up the road on the 10th September… Enjoy!

Redruth’s forward power set up a bonus point win against a spirited Shelford to give them a confidence boosting start to the league campaign.

Playing down the slope the home forwards won an early lineout against the throw for Aaron Penberthy’s kick to set up a position deep in Shelford territory. Another lineout steal saw the home forwards drive twenty metres to be held up over the line. The ensuing five metre scrum was excellently controlled giving the Reds’ number eight, Tom Duncan, the chance he wanted to open the scoring. Penberthy added the extras.

The backs were not to be outdone and with just ten minutes on the clock winger Lewis Vinnicombe tore open the Shelford defence and linked with his fellow winger Tom Notman who raced in for a well taken try converted by Penberthy.

A promising Shelford attack was rewarded with a successful penalty for Harry Owens to put the visitors on the scoreboard. However an awful mix up by the visitors at a defensive lineout saw Chris Fuca snap up the opportunity to score Redruth’s third try.

Shelford showed patience as they put the ball through the phases before moving it wide for full back Jay Williams to come up on the left hand side to score a well taken try.

On the half-hour the home pack took control once again with Duncan picking up from the base of the scrum to deftly put scrum half Nick Simmons the scoring opportunity which he happily accepted to secure the four try bonus point. Penberthy was unlucky not to add a fifth try for the hosts on the stroke of half time when the referee judged that he knocked on in the process of touching down from his own chip through the defence.

The third quarter was dominated by Shelford as the Reds appeared to lose concentration. Owens added a penalty, a try and a conversion to close the gap to eight points and create a few jitters amongst the home faithful.

A fine run by Notman set up an attacking scrum for Redruth from which, fittingly, Star Man Simmons opened up the defence for his second touch-down of the afternoon for Penberthy to convert. Simmons, who sets off for a year’s sabbatical in Australia next week will be missed by the Reds’ both on and off the pitch.

Redruth’s Director of Rugby David Penberthy was pleased to start with a maximum five points which was the target and was full of praise for his forwards. He will be looking for improvements over the coming weeks as the defence which had looked very strong in the pre-season games against Plymouth and Bath Academy appeared rusty especially in the second half.

Next week will be a sterner test as the Reds travel up the south coast to visit Worthing.

Attendance: 975
Referee: Shane Lewis (RFU)

Redruth RFC Mini Junior Section will be holding their Registration Day on Sunday 4th September.

Training will commence at 10.15am

Registration will take place in the clubhouse at 12pm.
£40 per player, £30 per additional sibling.

World Cup Tag Tournament will K.O. at 1pm. We aim
to have 20 teams of mixed ages, 7 players per team, £1 per player. All players,
brothers/sisters mums dads and coaches are invited to join in.

There will be a BBQ and the bar will be open all day for refreshments and oxygen for us older ones!

Any new player interested in joining please contact Chris Sidwell on 07870525863.

All the latest Mini Junior team news can be found on the Redruth Pitchero site.

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/redruth/

Come along and join in the fun.

See you there!

The countdown to the 1st league game begins are we are just 4 days away from the start of another season. Preparations have gone well and the pre season has been excellent. It doesn’t seem 10 weeks ago that we started out at Redruth School, but some 30 sessions later and with 3 tough pre season games under our belts the new season beckons and I believe we are all chomping at the bit to get it underway. Shelford will be our first visitors to the Recreation Ground and I believe this will be the clubs first visit to Redruth. A number of their players have been here before, the most recent being the Owen brothers who played here last year for Barking. Coach Glen Remnant has also been here before with Cambridge and Launceston. Make no mistake, teams in this league are tough and the challenges ahead will be demanding with no room at all for complacency.

Saturday’s final pre season game at Bath was extremely worthwhile apart from the fact that we have lost the services of Matt Bowden for a while with a nasty groin injury. Matt’s agony was very obvious to see and we all hope he makes a speedy recovery. The game itself was full of energy and both sides looked to play rugby from the start. The Bath side, although young, fielded a number of quality youngsters many of whom have already made fleeting appearances in the Premiership or in the JP Morgan 7’s series. I honestly feel that the scoreline was a little unfair to us but making mistakes at this level will be punished and we were punished for some basic errors. However, it is better to get these out of the system now than during the next few weeks and as the game progressed we got better and thoroughly deserved the 2 tries that we scored. Frank Butler and all those involved with the Academy at Bath made us very welcome and looked after us extremely well. I am keen to make this a regular fixture during pre season and hopefully that will come to fruition.

Just so that everyone is aware, Nick Simmons leaves for Australia on Saturday evening and will be away for pretty much the whole season. We will really miss him as he is a good lad and one the jokers in the side. To replace Nick we are going to sign Matt Shepherd from St Austell. Matt has been training with the Pirates for the last couple of weeks and is keen to make the step up to the National Leagues. We hope he really enjoys himself at Redruth and I am sure he will fit in really well.

The latest on Greg Goodfellow, I am now in the final stages of obtaining Greg’s release from the club in New Zealand where he played for part of our summer. There have been some technical issues over sorting the paperwork but I hope to have it all sorted by the weekend. Whether that will allow him to be available for us really depends on whether we can hit the deadline for the registration at Twickenham.

Forgot this last week, but a belated 50th birthday wish to John Simmons. John celebrated his birthday on the day we played Plymouth Albion and we all found our way back to his place for a lovely BBQ and some beers in the evening .. great night again and many thanks to John and Sharon for asking us….

Well Martin Johnson has announced his England squad for New Zealand and there are no real surprises. I am so pleased Simon Shaw has made it as he is an outstanding player and at 38 years old will be one of the oldest in the tournament. To still be playing at this level at that age is remarkable and I only hope that he gets a chance when there. I am disappointed that Riki Flutey has been chopped though, I am not impressed by Hape nor Tindall and thought Flutey would get one of those places. England still have a game to go and it will be interesting to see who Johnson puts out this weekend against Ireland. I think Lewis Moody needs to play to prove he is fit enough to take the knocks and no doubt Fourie is on standby should something happens if he plays. Five props seem a bit excessive but I suppose it will be attritional and they will all figure at some point in time. So pleased Matt Stevens has made it as well. We saw Matt Banahan at Bath on Saturday … he is bloody huge!

Whilst England waited until Monday evening at 19:45hrs to announce their squad others did it during the day. Poor Martyn Williams did not make the cut for the Welsh squad and sits on 99 caps. Sam Warburton captains the Welsh team and they include Redruth, or is it Camborne, born Luke Charteris in their squad. The player to watch, in my opinion, is George North. I think he is going to be a star of the future and will end up one of the Welsh all time greats.

Friday night sees the Players Reunion at the club and there will also be the inaugural Season Launch with our major sponsors present. Some of this season’s squad will be present to show the new range of kit and hope to be able to say a few words about our expectations and plans for the 2011/2012 season.

So that is it for this week, a week in which England have proven they are the best cricket team in the world by destroying the previous No 1’s, India, 4 – 0 in the N Power Series. Man of the Series was a tough one to call but I agree that Stuart Broad was outstanding throughout especially after being written off prior to the start of the series. Petersen proved he is world class and Bell was text book! Alistair Cook has the patience of Job and in Bresnan, Prior and Morgan they have a mighty batting line up. Add Jimmy Anderson as one of the best in the World and you have one hell of a team! Next year its South Africa and the West Indies, I wonder if England will still be No1 then after a taxing tour ahead of Sri Lanka.

Look forward to seeing everyone at the Rec on Saturday for our first match of the season

Cheers for now

David Penberthy
Director of Rugby

Report by Ed Bawden

Redruth will go in to the new season in good heart after putting in a gutsy and determined performance to hold a young and classy Bath side to four tries to 2 in an entertaining game.

There was a heavy shower in Bath at lunchtime but the sun was out and the Rec looked in superb condition when the hosts kicked off.

Redruth failed to control the kick off and James Tyas found a big hole in the defence before good passing enabled Ben Mercer to cross in the corner for a try that Tom Heathcote converted from the touchline with a superb kick.

For the opening quarter Redruth were under great pressure with Brett Rule and Daren Jacques making several vital tackles as the Reds kept their line intact.

There was an injury blow for the Reds with winger Matt Bowden being helped off with a groin injury after 7 minutes but Nathan Pedley took his place and had a good game.

Some good kicking by Aaron Penberthy got the Reds into the Bath 22 for the first time and following a series of pick and drive with Darren Semmens and Peter Joyce prominent Bath conceded a penalty in front of the posts for the teenage pivot Penberthy to get some points on the board for the Reds.

A big and powerful Bath pack scored two catch and drive tries just after the half hour through forwards Max Maidment and Hugo Seccombe both converted by Heathcote with Penberthy kicking a 30 metre drop goal in between for the Reds.

Tom Notman picked up a yellow card after he failed to roll away from a tackle and in injury time Heathcote added the penalty to give Bath a healthy 24-6 lead at the interval.

Immediately after the restart Heathcote strolled through the Redruth defence to touchdown near the posts for a try that he also converted.

Both sides used all their replacements and the game became less structured, Redruth’s best move of the game ended with Chris Fuca giving a scoring pass to Brett Rule who touched down in the right hand corner after 50 minutes

Bath created several good chances but the Reds showing good determination and spirit kept them out.

The last 20 minutes featured uncontested scrums and when a Bath move broke down Notman was on hand to pick up the ball and run in the Reds second unconverted try in the right hand corner.

BATH UNITED
Tries: Mercer, Maidment, Seccombe, Heathcote
Con: Hethcote 4
Pen: Heathcote
JJ Kilmartin; A Brown, B Mercer, P Roberts (Capt), O Woodburn; T Heathcote, W Clemecha; M Ashcroft, M Anderson, M Maidment, H Seccombe, N Morris, J Tyas, J Stephenson, W Skuse
Reps (All Used) T Dunn, W Tanner, T Ellis, G Drury, F Gabbitass, B Loosemore, Z Vinnicombe E Hainsworth, C Cook

REDRUTH
Tries: B Rule, Notman
Pen; Penberthy
Drop Penberthy
B Rule; T Notman, C Bonds (Capt), S Parsons, M Bowden; A Penberthy, N Simmons; D Jacques, D Semmens, P Joyce, L Collins, D Cook, C Fuca, O Hambly, T Duncan
Reps (All used) N Pedley, D Bonds, J Semmens, A Rule, M Hearn, R Brown, C Williams, J Morgan, C Bailey

Ref Shane Lewis (RFU)

A “riotous” week culminated in a good work out at Plymouth Albion on Sunday! So, as Julie Andrews would say “Lets start at the very beginning a very good place to start” … last Monday I spent reflecting on the game against Albion and watching the DVD. It was a good effort but I think we all knew there were areas that we needed to improve on …. Tuesday … well it was bag packing time as it was my annual jaunt to Edgbaston Birmingham for the 3rd N Power Test Match between England and India. Looking at the news on Monday night and on Tuesday morning the situation on Birmingham did not look good …. 3 weeks worrying about the weather paled into insignificance as news of the serious rioting began to break! Should we go? Well being fearless Cornishmen we could not let our host Matt Rowe down so we left Cornwall at about 1:30pm

The trip up the motorway was good and we found ourselves on the Hagley Road at about 5pm. Now anyone who knows Birmingham will know that the Hagley Road is one of the main roads into Birmingham City Centre, our hotel was in Birmingham City Centre and … yes you got it … the rioting was in Birmingham City Centre! The Hagley Road at teatime is normally “chukka” …. Not a car in site this time! This is when slight concern set in … anyway we parked the mini bus and made our way to the Premier Inn Birmingham City Centre … the concern quickly turned to mild panic as we witnessed, about 25m from us, a group kicking in a Gran Casino window … the group that seemed about 25 quickly turned to a 100 plus and they were following us over New Street Bridge towards the railway station, enter 2 motor cycle cops who, by the sheer sound of their machines pelting down New Street at about 80mph, dispersed the crowd of kids very quickly … but not for long … the taxi driver we requested a lift from refused but was kind enough to give us directions to the hotel. The atmosphere was scary believe me but we managed to get to the hotel without further incident. We were greeted by a doorman wearing a stab vest and a very tough looking “bouncer”. We were in and checked in and went to our rooms. Within 5 minutes a group of youths were outside the hotel and about a minute later 20/30 police vans arrived with about 20 police leaving each of those vehicles in full riot gear and then came van loads of police dogs! It kicked off big time and we were in the middle of it!!!!! Anyway the police and staff at the hotel handled it all, we had a real “lock in” at the hotel as we were not allowed to leave and the cricket that followed over the next few days was brilliant. The group, consisting of Matt Rowe, Gareth Mitchell, Simon Johnson, Lee Viner, Mark Alecsy, John Simmons, Tim Brokenshire and myself and Nigel Hambly had a brilliant time. Our entire stay at Edgbaston was on Level 4 of the new hospitality area within the ground, the view was great and we were easily identified by the “Spamhead Hat” This featured regularly on Sky’s coverage and caught the attention of David “Bumble” Lloyd. I have to say it England were outstanding! It is the 3rd year that I have been to Edgbaston to watch the Test Series but this was easily the best by a huge margin …. Matt … thank you so much for a great few days made even better by the company I was with …

So a return at the weekend and it was up to Plymouth yesterday for our return against a much changed Plymouth side. The score was disappointing but I was relatively pleased with the performance. We were hampered by late “cry offs” from Damien Cook and Greg Goodfellow, Nick Simmons was unavailable and Chris Bailey left the field after only a minute with a shoulder injury. Plymouth were very strong and well organised in defence, tough at the breakdown and had pace outside. We defended really well in the first 40 minutes and were unlucky to go in 20 points down. To be fair, in a league game we may have opted to take a couple of penalty shots at goal but we didn’t and were always looking to score a try. The second was also pleasing as we made 7 changes but still remained very competitive. People will ask what we actually get out of playing games against the likes of Plymouth and Bath United next week! Well the reason is that we learn a huge amount about players, there is no hiding place, you have to work for every ball, everyone has to make tackles, better players bring the best of individuals and we have learnt a huge amount over the past 2 weeks. Bath will be tough this weekend but it’s about taking the next step towards Shelford and I think we are just where we want to be at the moment.

Positives are that our starting line up yesterday included 13 ex Redruth Colts in the squad of 22. 18 of the 22 have played senior County Rugby for Cornwall with the rest all playing for the County at age group level.

England were bloody dire on Saturday! I think a few players need to get to B&Q pretty quickly and get their paint and stuff like that because they wont be going to New Zealand and will have a bit of time to get the chores done prior to the start of the season! It will certainly be an interesting week with the England Management finalising their squad.

Elsewhere, former “loan player” Lewis Calder is the London Scottish captain next season. Lewis joined us on loan from Exeter Chiefs a couple of seasons back and, when released from the Chiefs, moved to London Scottish where he played against the Reds last January at Redruth.

On Wednesday night this week, the Development side will play Hayle at Hayle with a 7:00pm kick off. This is a first outing for a number of players who have missed out for one reason and another on the first 2 games.

On Saturday the 1st XV will travel to Bath to play their United side on the Rec with a 2:30pm kick off. This a great opportunity for all the boys to play on one of the most famous rugby grounds around. Frank Butler, the Academy Manager at Bath, has been great once again in helping with this fixture and we are very grateful to the Bath club. I would imagine the Bath side will be one of a mixture of their hugely impressive Academy players and 1st XV squad players. A number of the Bath Academy players figured recently in their 7’s team in the JP Morgan 7’s tournament. The player with Cornish connections in the Bath side is likely to be Will Skuse. Will used to play for the Truro Mini/Junior sections and represented Cornwall, South West and England Under 18’s. He is a very good player, always has been and I am sure he will go a long way.

So less than 2 weeks now until the start of another season. In all honesty I am looking forward to it. I really want to enjoy this season as the last one was very tough and demanding! A good start is imperative and one thing we will not be is complacent!

That is it for this week … will be back again next week hopefully. Look forward to seeing some of you at Bath on Saturday

Cheers for now … Dave

U13 Girls Rugby at Redruth – Players and Coaches required.